Prosecutors arrested the former chairman of investment firm J. Bridge Corp. on Wednesday for alleged insider trading, they said.
Hidetaka Noda, 54, is suspected of selling 70,000 shares in the Tokyo-based company for ¥65 million in May 2006 through a brokerage account in Singapore, although he knew the company, listed on the second section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, would revise its profit forecast downward, the prosecutors said.
Noda thus avoided incurring a ¥20 million loss when the firm's share price dived to ¥650 from ¥910 following the announcement of the downward revision on May 12, according to market sources.
Noda allegedly broke the securities and exchange law.